Wireless communication devices and wireless networks continue to proliferate. A number of different types of wireless communication networks exist and are contemplated. Examples of wireless networks include, but are not limited to, the Global System for Mobile communication (“GSM”) (which includes General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”) and Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (“EDGE”)), Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”), Wide-band CDMA (“WCDMA”), the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.16 standard (“WiMax”), the IEEE 802.11 standard and its variants (“WiFi”), and Bluetooth™.
With the proliferation of different types of wireless networks, so too does the demand for wireless communication devices that can communicate over those networks, including so called “hybrid” or “multi-mode” wireless communication devices that are capable of communicating over more than one type of wireless networks.
The Generic Access Network (“GAN”), also sometimes referred to as Unlicensed Mobile Access (“UMA”), has been proposed as a means to allow wireless communication devices that are primarily designed to communicate over wide area, cellular communication networks (e.g. GSM, GPRS, EDGE) to communicate over wireless local area networks (“WLAN”) (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth). See, for example, the whitepaper entitled, Generic Access Network, GAN (Former UMA), Anonymous, October 2006, © Ericsson AB 2006 (“GAN Whitepaper”), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The GAN Whitepaper discloses a hybrid cellular telephone configured to communicate via GSM or via a WLAN. (See FIG. 2 of the GAN Whitepaper). However, one problem with GAN, as described in the GAN Whitepaper, is that as the hybrid cellular telephone uses the WLAN, traffic must be carried through a Generic Access Network Controller (GANC), which essentially mimics a traditional base station controller (“BSC”), so that the GANC will appear to be a BSC to the traditional core mobile network. This structure results in a large amount of additional overhead in order to carry the ultimate payload traffic, particularly between the hybrid cellular telephone and the GANC. The additional overhead can result in an effective reduction in bandwidth for the payload traffic. Perhaps more significantly, GAN can result in forcing data back through the carrier network and thereby increasing costs to the subscriber.